Rare Atari game sells for over $5,000 - Plugged In - Yahoo! Games
Rare Atari game sells for over $5,000
by Ben Silverman
[Buzz up!](http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=yahoo_games_p893&guid=http%3A%2F%2Fvideogames.yahoo.com%2Fevents%2Fplugged-in%2Frare-atari-game-sells-for-over-5-000%2F1372999&targetUrl=)
November 13 3:36 P.M.
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/ga/buzz/feature/vg23/music-machine-atari_300.jpg
It’s like no other gadget that you’ve ever seen.
When it was released in the 1980s, the Atari 2600 game "The Music Machine" didn’t exactly tear up the charts. That's because it was only sold in religious bookstores, making it one of the rarest games to ever be released for the legendary console.
And for a mere $5,250, it could be yours -- or could have been, had you beaten out the winner of [this eBay listing](http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Music-Machine-for-Atari-2600_W0QQitemZ130341892801QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Vintage_Video_Games?hash=item1e58fb72c1).
Sweetening the deal is the fact that this particular copy of the game is still sealed, meaning the original cartridge and manual are in mint condition. Copies of the nearly-impossible-to-find game don’t often come up for sale, and when they do, they're typically in much worse shape.
So what do you do in the game, exactly? We're not really sure -- few have ever even held a copy, much less played it -- but according to the game box, it sounds like a religious take on the Atari classic, Kaboom!:
"Symbols representing character-building qualities (the Fruit of the Spirit) are raining down from above. Stevie and Nancy need your help to collect the symbols and to avoid the mischievous pudgeons...and with each gift of Love you collect, the symbols rain heavier and faster."
(Yes, pudgeons. Not a typo, although could be related to pigeons. Hard to say.)
Think a video game selling for five grand is crazy? So do we, although compared to [this copy of Nintendo World Championships for the NES](http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/the-17-500-video-game/1332488), "The Music Machine" is a steal.
I can hardly see myself spending over $100 on a game, no matter how rare it is.
Lucky seller though. The unluckiest I heard of was the one who set the “buy it now” price of a PS3 with some games and Blu-Ray movies to $1.99 instead of the starting bid.
maroush
November 16, 2009, 4:11pm
3
Re: Rare Atari game sells for $5000+
Man i remember playing an Atari like it was only yesterday…
Does that mean my Atari will fetch that much in the auctions? runs to find her old-school consoles
I don't think so. I'm sure it was sold as a collector's item. For something like that, it would probably have to be in mint condition and perhaps even factory sealed.
